Six Yellow Jackets selected in MLB Draft

Five Georgia Tech baseball players had their names called Saturday on the final day of the 2014 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. With six total draftees in 2014, it marks the 14th consecutive year that no less than four Yellow Jackets have been selected in an MLB draft.

Junior RHP Josh Heddinger was taken in the 14th round by Detroit, while RHP Dusty Isaacs and Matthew Grimes went in the 18th round to AL East rivals Toronto and Baltimore, respectively. Two position players were also drafted, with junior CF Daniel Spingola going to the Chicago Cubs in the 24th round and senior 2B Mott Hyde to the Houston Astros in the 26th round.

Those five join sophomore LHP Sam Clay, who was drafted Friday in the fourth round by Minnesota.

GT volleyball schedule announced

One home tournament, nine matches against 2013 NCAA Tournament participants and 13 home contests at O’Keefe Gym highlight the Georgia Tech volleyball team’s 2014 schedule, head coach Michelle Collier announced Wednesday.

The Jackets play in four tournaments on consecutive weekends before kicking off ACC action. Tech is on the road for the first three weekends, beginning August 29 at the Gamecock Invitational where the Jackets take on Jacksonville, Gardner Webb and South Carolina. Collier coached at Jacksonville from 2012-13, before coming to Tech.

The following weekend, Tech travels to Texas for the SMU Tournament, featuring SMU, Oklahoma and Texas Southern. A weekend trip to Nashville, Tenn. for the Lipscomb Invitational to play the Bison, Utah and East Tennessee State wraps up Tech’s road tournament schedule.

Georgia Tech returns home Sept. 19 to host the Georgia Tech Invitational, which draws state rival Georgia, Alabama A&M and Southern Miss. Tech’s final non-conference game is Sept. 23 at O’Keefe against a surprisingly first-time opponent – Kennesaw State.

The Jackets play 18 conference matches, with just four repeat opponents (Clemson, Wake Forest, Miami and NC State) and nine teams take on Tech in front of its home crowd at O’Keefe Gymnasium. Tech begins conference play on the road Sept. 26 at 2013 ACC Champion Duke and Sept. 28 at ACC newcomer Louisville.

The Jackets return home to host three-straight matches Florida State (Oct. 3), Wake Forest (Oct. 5) and NC State (Oct. 10), before making the short trip to Clemson (Oct. 12).

Miami (Nov. 26) and Clemson (Nov. 28) visit O’Keefe to wrap up Tech’s 2014 regular season schedule.

Kurey, Woodard Named ITA All-Americans

Rising juniors Megan Kurey and Kendal Woodard of the Georgia Tech women’s tennis team have been named to the 2014 ITA All-America team.

“I am very proud of both Kendal and Megan for having such a great year, working so hard and competing so well,” head coach Rodney Harmon said. “Even though the year didn’t end up the way we really wanted it to for them, they had so many great successes throughout the year, including winning the ITA Southeast regional and being the team that got to go to the NCAA Doubles Championship.”

Kurey and Woodard are the third Georgia Tech doubles duo to have earned All-America distinction. They are the first Jackets to earn the recognition since Jillian O’Neill was named an All-American in 2012 in singles. Kurey and Woodard are the seventh and eighth student-athletes to be named All-America in the history of the program.

The duo finished out the season ranked as the #7 doubles team in the nation. Kurey and Woodard earned a bid to the NCAA Doubles Championship in 2014 and were named the six seed. The pair fell to Sofie Oyen and Belinda Woolcock of Florida in the first round of the doubles championship. Woodard was named First Team All-ACC this season while Kurey garnered All-ACC second team honors.

Tech’s No. 1 doubles pair produced a 13-7 record this spring and defeated 10 nationally ranked foes. Kurey and Woodard are 5-5 in their last 10 matches. Overall, Kurey and Woodard are 27-11.

A doubles team must meet any of the following criteria to earn ITA All-American honors – top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Championship; reach quarterfinals in NCAA Doubles Championship; finish in the Top 10 of final ITA National Doubles Rankings.